The Outer Banks

I guess I need to start with geography. First off, I listed the Outer Banks as a "sub-tropical" destination, but I realize that that is pushing it a bit. North Carolina, for the most part, is a temperate state, but I think it can be argued that the Outer Banks, which swelter in the summer and never really get cold in winter, nearly qualify as sub-tropical. At any rate, if Ocracoke Island was good enough for that terror of the Caribbean Blackbeard (it was his northernmost anchorage), it counts as sub-tropical to me.

That said, I have to admit that it was far from sweltering when I visited in March of 1994. Daytime highs were in the mid-70s, and it did get cool at night. However, Hong Kong in December has similar weather, and it is actually south of the Tropic of Cancer. Enough! On to the narrative.

The Outer Banks consist of a string of fragile barrier islands that drape along the Carolina coast and outline Currituck and Pamlico Sounds. If one were to rise, Venus-like, from the Atlantic, the first thing one would encounter would be a lovely expanse of beach, which is quite broad and leads up to the line of dunes that run parallel to the sea. On and behind the dunes are hardy dune grasses, various marsh grasses and plants, and low scrub pines. Nothing in nature stands too tall, as the Banks are subject to ferocious winds from time to time. The islands are perfect habitat for waterfowl of all descriptions, so they are a bird-watcher's paradise. Unfortunately, they are also an entomologist's paradise, and in the high summer the mosquitos, yellow flies, and black flies present a major pain in the barsoom. The Outer Banks also have a couple small herds of wild ponies, similar to those that make Assateague Island in Virginia famous.

If, like me, you are facinated by lighthouses, the Outer Banks are a great place to visit. Beginning in the North, in Corolla, North Carolina, there is the Currituck Beach Light. This lighthouse is unusual in that, unlike most other lights, it is not painted as a daymark. Instead, the tower has been left its natural brick red. The actual steel structure where the light is kept closely resembles that of Cape Hatteras and another light on that coast, Bodie Island. The Currituck Beach light is situated in the middle of the island, amid a forest of scrub pines. Indeed, standing at the base of the light, one cannot see the sea at all. However, like nearly all Carolina coast lights, Currituck Beach rises high above its surroundings (about 150 feet, if I am not mistaken), and so is easily seen from a good distance off.

The Bodie Island Light is located further south along the coast at Oregon Inlet. In structure, this light resembles Currituck Beach, but it has been painted with horizontal black and white bands. The light is near the sea, standing at the edge of one of the ubiquitous marshes of the Banks. Oregon Inlet was created when a hurricane cut a passage between the sea and Pamlico Sound, and the passage was named for the first ship that passed through it.

Next along the coast is the famous Cape Hatteras Light. The tower stands nearly 200 feet high, making it one of the tallest lighthouses in North America, if not the world. The black and white "barber pole" daymark pattern on the light is also quite unusual.

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Copyright © 1996 Scott Carr

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